Buyers picked up properties worth $102.27 million at auction

Rising interest rates and restricted loan options may have amounted in more properties going under the hammer this year. Though the number was not drastically different from last year’s, the total property value fetched at the auctions was much higher. The total value of properties sold at auctions this year is currently at $102.27 million, the highest in these past 5 years. Last year’s total auction value was $72.5 million.

Residential properties were the main draw at these auctions. And figures have been on the rise since 2009. A total of 34 properties were sold at the auctions this year, and out of that 26 were private homes. That is almost double of the 46 per cent of private properties in auction in 2013. Property analysts are expecting the list of residential mortgagees to grow next year as the combined effect of a dampened rental market, increase in supply of completed homes, interest rate hikes, prevailing property cooling measures and a general sense of a slowing economy, sinks in.

One of the largest sales this year includes $16.3 million single-storey bungalow at Branksome Road. The projected value of its redevelopment may have made it a bargain buy, even at the hefty price. For developers and investors hunting for a worthy investment, these mortgage sales may be fertile ground.